Poetic Matrix Press Submissions

As a small press, we are very selective about what poetry we publish. Please look over our publications and this website
before submitting. We are happy to consider good quality, well written poetry, either individual pieces to be published in
our Quarterly Newsletter or as a manuscript to be published in book form. We typically only publish 3-6 books per year, and
are less interested in the pain and suffering one may express through poetry than in the transcendence and understanding
that can be achieved and shared.

It's easy to find alarming reports about the death of publishing, and the myriad
difficulties facing the printed book. October of 2012 we learned that Penguin and
Random House would merge, further consolidating and flattening the mainstream publishing
industry, while Amazon and eBooks are threatening even the largest publishing firms
including Barnes & Noble. Poetic Matrix, as a small press primarily focused
on poetry
with occassional forays into non-fiction, feels the challenges even more acutely.

Since we began publishing full volumes in 2001 we've been constantly seeking new
models to help us continue to produce quality work in this challenging environment.
Our transition from traditional offset printing to short-run digital printing —
allowing us to reduce the cost of producing each new publication — has enabled
us to publish 45 titles in the last 10 years, a list of which we are very proud.

In order to continue publishing exciting, thoughtful poetry with an occassional
non-fiction work, we are once again looking to change the way we do business. We
have begun the process of transitioning away from the commerical business model
to what we're calling the Fully-Funded Book Project model, which we hope will allow
us to stay in business for another 10 years of art and poetry.

A Fully-Funded Book Project is one in which all of the expenses of design, layout,
editing, printing, shipping, distribution, and marketing are paid for before beginning
the project. (The pioneering work we have done with Author Assisted Financial Development
has shown that this can work.) This allows us to produce the first run of books
at no up-front cost to the press, which frees us from worrying about sales and breaking
even, and allows us to focus on producing and sharing an excellent book of poetry.
The funds will be developed in a number of ways, including grants and pre-sales,
but the most important funding method will be in community donation drives, using
Kickstarter or some other crowdfunding tool (at least initially). We have published
a few volumes this way, but we intend to transition entirely to this new model.

Fully-Funded Book Projects are fully vetted publications and are not fee for printing,
vanity or self-published books. We reserve the right to refuse any manuscript for
any reason without explanation. We maintain a high standard for publication to insure
that all authors can be confident that the author, publisher, and publication have
recognizable quality and will be accepted in bookstores and libraries without reservation.
Books are produced primarily by short run digital printing. Sample publications
are available. A Fully-Funded Book Project is a trusted method to raise the needed
funds to meet publication costs and put the work out to a quality public.

We encourage you to look over our titles. Our authors come from all parts of the
society; from university professors to highway contractors to lawyers to students.
Poetry flourishes in all quarters of the culture and it is our missions to seek
out new and interesting work and get it out to a quality public. We invite you to
read and purchase our poetry books. One of the roles of the poet is to support
other poets — Buy a Book!